BACKLASH

Several thank you are in order, #1 thank you for the monthly magazine, #2 thank you for the weekly email addition, #3 thank you for the 3 spectacular riding events each year, and nally, #4 supporting the Ramapo Motorcycle Club and getting the word out about the Fall Foliage Run.

I am eternally grateful.

Your friend and ally,

BYRD

Brian,

Sorry to hear about your lost camera Brother. It got me thinking though, maybe take a picture of your contact info so if found it can easily be returned.

It also got me thinking about a jet we lost when I was in Beaufort. There were multiple crashes while I was there that resulted in smoking holes but this one went missing...literally. My squadron was deploying to Aviano, Italy in support of Operation Deny Flight. Bosnia was kicking off and the Marines wanted in. We had a Midnight brief for a 02:00 takeoff to meet the tankers for a 10 hour ight. We arrived on base and learned a VMFA (AW)-533 jet was missing off the coast. One of the guys in my squadron said his roommate Tony Slick didn’t came home last night. 533 was our sister squadron and we all knew Tony. The search was on but we had our orders, so off we went to Aviano. They never found a trace of the jet or either of the two man crew. They searched for days and eventually brought in the heavy recovery vessels from the Navy. They found a rudder with 533 markings but it was from an A-6 Intruder lost from the 80’s. They found parts of the space shuttle and even a body from a Navy burial at sea that didn’t go as planned, but no F-18 or crew. Rumors ew in the Marine’s home towns that they were on “secret missions” because jets just don’t go missing...but they do. Boeing working with Naval investigators believe the crew lost situational awareness over the water and impacted in a shallow descent. The impact was such that it didn’t disintegrate the aircraft but enough to blow the engines out of the airframe which lightened the aircraft enough to reach neutral buoyancy at 60 ft or so under water. They learned about this when an Australian F-18 impacted the water in a shallow dive after the pilot ejected. They assumed the jet sank to the bottom but instead if oated under the surface for weeks and was discovered by divers. My question is, why couldn’t they nd the engines? Crazy shit... all we knew was that Tony was gone, his family had no Son to bury and we had missions to y.

Tim

Hi Brian & Shira

Regarding the “Critters” article in the September issue... My rule of thumb is... if it is small enough to eat in one sitting, you can ride over it.

Steve Smith

Hi guys,

I’m asking for an opinion from you guys. I have a 2018 V-Strom 1000 which I love. As you know I recently got into un-paved riding and rode the MABDR with John Ciribassi in June etc. I have decided that I really like being able to go off-pavement but I admit that the Strom is a handful. Very little ground clearance, not that much suspension travel, and it weighs 539 lbs with empty soft bags. The summer was great but lately I can’t seem to stop taking dirt naps. First I stuffed it into a huge thorn bush along a soft gravel road (2 hours for extraction and I ended up calling Tod to help me get it out.) Then I wrapped it around a small tree on my own property (1.5 hours for extraction with a friend helping; I was ready to cut down the 7^%* tree...) so nally I decided to just practice some basic balance and control drills; slipped on the grass and racked up my left knee; been on crutches for 2 weeks while I wait for my MRI appt. So I’m really looking at dual sport bikes that would have better suspension travel, more ground clearance and lighter weight. I want to be able to ride on the highway for some hours, then ride jeep roads and stuff like we Continued om Page 9